The present invention relates to a relatively small trash compactor, i.e., one that produces a bale of compacted trash which is sufficiently small to be manually transportable. Such small trash compactors are commonly used in households. It has been suggested by others that under certain circumstances such compactors might be particularly desirable in a fast food service outlet, airports, amusement parks, convention centers, etc., in place of the rubbish collecting containers commonly used at a number of locations in such places.
The small compactors generally commercially available at the present time generally employ something in the nature of a drawer which is opened to receive the trash and within which the trash is compacted when the drawer is closed. While these are acceptable for household use, they would not be particularly desirable for use in food outlets, etc., because of unsightliness of the drawer and its contents when open, the necessity for manipulation of the drawer, etc. For use in a food outlet, etc., a compactor must resemble the trash bins now being used in that there is a cabinet having an opening in an upper part into which the trash can be inserted and having compaction mechanism in that cabinet to compact the trash inserted through that access opening. The principal object of the present invention is to provide an effective small trash compactor having such a configuration and thus being suitable for use in food outlets, etc., or the like. At the same time, the compactor of the present invention is not limited to such a use since it would also be quite usable in a home, etc.
Others have proposed achieving this objective by having a compacting chamber in the lower part of the cabinet, or housing, and a space at one side of the cabinet, and above the compacting chamber, through which the trash can descend from the access opening to the chamber. The compaction mechanism would be in juxtaposition to that space and arranged so that it does not obstruct the free fall of trash from the access opening to the compaction chamber. Such arrangement conserves space within the cabinet and thus maintains the size of the cabinet to a minimum. The compaction mechanism would have a platen portion which was intended to swing from a generally upright position to a generally horizontal position transverse to that space during the compaction cycle so that the trash in that chamber and below that space will be compacted. The trash in the remaining portion of the chamber would be compacted by a second platen portion which only moves vertically. In actual practice this device proposed by others was not effective since the movable platen portion was not effective to clear accumulated trash from the space leading from the housing opening to the compaction chamber and to compact trash in that portion of the chamber my invention overcomes this problem by initially, in the compaction cycle, moving the movable platen through said space to a generally horizontal position and thereafter commence lowering the carriage to carry out the actual compaction. Thus I provide a lost motion connection between a hydraulic ram and the carriage as well as a connection between the ram and the movable platen portion, so that upon the extension of the ram, the movable platen portion is first actuated and thereafter the carriage is moved.
Another feature of my invention is the use of a gate to block off the trash receiving space during a compaction cycle. This gate is arranged so as to catch any trash inserted into the cabinet during a compaction cycle and hold that trash out of the way of the compaction mechanism until the compaction cycle is completed. Upon the completion of the compaction cycle the gate opens to permit the trash being so held to fall into the compaction chamber.
Another feature of the invention is an arrangement for initiating a compaction cycle which does not depend upon an individual pushing a button or the like as in the usual small compactor. Thus the compaction of the trash, when required, does not depend upon the fast food store relying upon a patron, or an employee, taking such a button pushing action when compaction is required. Obviously, such a procedure would be quite unreliable and would undoubtedly merely result in the housing filling up with uncompacted trash which would ultimately spill out the access opening. It also is an invitation to children or irresponsible individuals to play with the mechanism. In the present invention there is a door on the access opening (much like the door on the usual trash bin used in such establishments) and after the door has been opened a predetermined number of times a trash compaction cycle is initiated. Thus the door counts the number of trays, etc., of trash that customers have inserted into the compactor and upon the count reaching a number (determined empirically) corresponding to a reasonable amount of trash requiring compaction, the compaction cycle occurs. Alternatively, a timer can be employed to cycle the compaction mechanism periodically.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings.